The Worlds Game… But not America’s Why ?

In most European countries, sports fanatics thrive off the game of soccer. Oddly, America responds to the game in a seemingly pessimistic manner.

A typical reason for this is that American’s enjoy scoring; they relate scoring to being action, therefore resulting in very little in soccer. However those who have never played, don’t know what the sport truly entails. – Foot skills, slide tackles, play making, crossing etc.

Tackle Sacks American’s prefer sports with more evident contact such as football

There are many similarities and differences between soccer and football, in the way they are played, the rules, the players, and the intensity. Contact cannot be a reason not to like soccer due to the constant pushing, shoving, jersey grabbing, and dangerous slide tackling that occur.

No Contact?...

Teamwork Contact Injuries Position Scoring Effort Pain Field Vision Skills Playbook Interceptions Coaches Organization Substitutes Dedication Teamwork Contact Injuries Position Scoring Effort Pain Field Vision Skills Playbook Interceptions Coaches Organization Substitutes Dedication Similar

90 Minutes No Timeouts No Pads, No Helmets 3 Substitutions Red and Yellow Cards Two Halves No Commercial Breaks Predominantl y European Thousands of Leagues 4 Quarters Each team has 3 timeouts per half Constant Line Changes Penalties Tackling Predominantly American Commercial Breaks NFL:NFC & AFC Yet Different Does this make one tougher?

Another MAJOR difference is…

Olympic Sport Soccer Football

American’s... Miss Out On the Celebration Also… My Trip to Spain!

España Won… The 2008 UEFA Football Tournament

Barcelona After the Win…

In European countries Soccer (football) is the most supported, attended, watched, and over all most popular game played. So why not America?

Well… We Tried On July 21 st, 2009, David Beckham made his debut as an LA Galaxy player against top English Premier team, Chelsea...

99% of America did not watch. …….

However “MLS jersey sales [were] already up 300% from last year, [2007].” – Time Magazine Some impact was made by David Beckham’s transfer.

As the years progress soccer becomes more and more popular in America. More kids and teens are playing, more American’s are tuning in to the World Cup and other tournaments, and FIFA ‘10 has already generated 48% more sales then ‘09.

The underestimated ability of a soccer player, and overall underrating of soccer in America has been a personal issue of mine growing up. I played soccer for 15 years and as I grew older the respect I received outside the soccer community seemed to dramatically decline. Our teams would constantly hear that soccer was a sport for “woosies” and requires little skill. These remarks, though being made by unqualified individuals, still hurt to hear. In no way is the purpose of this to show that soccer is better then football, it is however there to show that soccer is equally skillful, physical, and important to society, and should be respected by those who don’t play or never have.

By: Brian Godfrey